The CFA® Charter is a globally recognized certification in the area of Investment Finance offered by the CFA Institute, United States. It is a key certification for investment professionals, especially in the areas of Portfolio Management and Investment Analysis. The CFA designation is a valuable credential certifying you as having in-depth knowledge of security types and investment vehicles. It also indicates that you are expert in quantitative methodologies for analyzing securities, such as assessing their value and identifying their underlying risks. The CFA® designation is given to investment professionals who successfully complete the requirements set by the globally recognized CFA® Institute.

The CFA Program would help you enhance and build knowledge is the area of investment finance It is a key certification for investment professionals, especially in the areas of Research and Portfolio Management. It has 3 levels of examination. The Course is divided into 4 broad heads: a) Ethics & Professional Standards, b) Investment Tools, c) Asset Classes and d) Portfolio Management.

The CFA Program is an educational program that tests your mastery of a body of knowledge through a series of exams. If you pass these three exams and meet other requirements, you earn a CFA charter.

With only 100,000 investment professionals globally having achieved charterholder status to date, completion of the program puts you in an elite group.

The designation is therefore:

• Career-enhancing – Held in great esteem by employers and by your peers alike
• Well-respected – A reflection of your professional excellence
• Credible – The designation is praised and supported by the industry’s top organizations
• Globally recognized – If you change company or move country, the charter remains a mark of quality
• Globally relevant – The broad-based curriculum ensures you gain knowledge that has a global perspective

The CFA Charter will open up opportunities in the areas of Equity Research, Portfolio Management, Corporate Finance, Credit Analysis, Trading, Investment Banking, Investment Analysis, Wealth Management, Private Equity, and Valuation etc. 

CFA charter is globally recognized as a relevant and practical qualification for those looking to further their career in investment banking and fund management. The CFA charter has become mandatory for many investment analysts and portfolio managers. Also the cost of completing the CFA Program is significantly less than the cost of an MBA or Masters and you can also work throughout the CFA Program. The CFA curriculum teaches you practical aspects of finance, concepts that are used on the job everyday.  Unlike CA which focuses on accounting and audit, the focus of CFA is on analysis and valuation.

The finance content in CFA would go much beyond what one covers in an MBA Finance. CFA is a specialization in Investment Finance, and focuses on the concepts and tests the candidate through a single examination. The purpose of an MBA is to get a good overview of the concepts and build on the personality skills of the individual for e.g. Presentation Skills, Team Work, Leadership skills etc. So therefore a choice between an MBA and CFA should be based on the skill set an individual is looking to add. If you wish to be a specialist in Finance, then doing a CFA would surely be a better option.

But having said that the two courses should, however, not be strictly looked at as substitutes. They build on different skills. An MBA is holistic development along with adding knowledge in the area of specialization, but CFA is a specialization in finance and would go in-depth into investment finance and portfolio management.  

The CFA program, unlike the MBA, is focused on investment knowledge and has increasingly become a mark of distinction for investment professionals. It is often seen as career booster for Wall Street executives.

You need to be a graduate to give the CFA Exams. There is no requirement in terms of minimum marks or the graduation to be in a specific specialization.  You can also give the CFA Level 1 Exam, while you are in your final year of graduation. But to give Level 2, you must have completed your graduation at the time of registering for the exam. For further details on the eligibility criteria click on http://www.cfainstitute.org/cfaprogram/process/Pages/index.aspx

The curriculum is divided into 4 major areas:

1. Ethical and professional standards
2. Tools and inputs for investment valuation and management (Quantitative Techniques, Economics, Financial Statement Analysis, Corporate Finance)
3. Asset valuation (Equity Valuation, Fixed Income Valuation, Derivatives, Alternative Investments)
4. Portfolio management

There are 10 topic areas in the CFA Exams.

There are 10 topic areas in the CFA Exams.

Note: There is very little (if any) maths (calculus) in this course. Also, you are allowed to carry a calculator to the exam.

The exam is structured as 3 Levels: Level 1, 2 and 3. Level 1 Exam is conducted twice every year on 1st Saturday of June and December. Level 2 and 3 Exams are conducted only once every year on 1st Saturday of June every year. The Level I exams will include 240 multiple choice questions, divided between 2 exams held on the same day i.e. 120 on the ‘Morning Session’ from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM and another 120 questions on the ‘Afternoon Session’ from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM. Each multiple choice question is free-standing (not dependent on other questions) and has three possible answers: A, B, and C. All questions are equally weighted and there is no penalty for guessing.

The registration process is quite simple. Go to the CFA Website www.cfainstitute.org and create your login, and register for the exam online. You would need to fulfill your personal, professional details, select your test center, and pay up the fee for the exam.

Once you register, you will get a confirmation email from the CFA Institute. You will receive the soft copy material – which can be downloaded onto your computer. If you have ordered the hardcopy material, it could take about a week to ten days to arrive.

Note: If you have given the exam before, then you would have to pay up only the examination registration.

For complete details on the fee for the CFA Exams log on to http://www.cfainstitute.org/cfaprogram/process/fees/Pages/index.aspx

The fees to the CFA Institute can be paid via

1. Credit Card. This is probably the best and the fastest method to pay the fee. The credit card company would bill you in your local currency, while pay the CFA Institute in Dollars. The transaction would be done instantaneously and you would get a confirmation of it too.
2. Bankers cheque / Demand Draft: You would need to go to your bank and provide all the details required to make a dollar cheque and then post it to the CFA Institute.
3. Swift Transfer: Request for the bank account details of the CFA Institute, by sending them an email. And then make a SWIFT (online) transfer through your bank.

To become a CFA charterholder, you must:

1. Pass 3 rigorous six-hour exams - structured as Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3.
2. Have at least four years of professional investment experience.
3. Become a regular member of CFA Institute
4. Commit to abiding by CFA® Institute's Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct.

Relevant work experience implies that your work should add value into the investment decision making process. This means, that you should be using on your job any part of the content that you are learning at the CFA This 48 month work experience can be before, during or after your CFA Exams. This is a must requirement to attain the CFA Charter not the CFA Exams. You can give the exams even if you do not work in this area.

YES. There are more than 6 test centers in India: Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Pune.

If you have a background in Commerce, Finance or Economics, it will surely be an advantage while you start. But if you don’t have a background, yes you would start at a back foot but then if you put in the time and effort, the course is quite manageable. All topics on the CFA Level 1 Exam start right from the basics of the topic. In our classes, as well, we ensure that all the basics are covered so that all students are at the same level. So if you pay attention in the classes, and put in the required hardwork - you can surely clear this exam.

You do not need to have a Finance/Commerce background to start your journey to become CFA Charter holder. Our coaching is structured to ensure students from all backgrounds are able to quickly learn the concepts and apply them in solving tricky questions on the exam. We provide special focus to students from non-finance backgrounds, while at the same time encourage students with any prior knowledge on the topics to actively participate in discussions in the class. Apart from Chartered Accountants, MBA’s in Finance and other finance specialists, we have had students from various backgrounds such as Non-Finance bachelors, Engineering, Human Resource, Hospitality Management and Doctors etc.